BLOCKCHAIN
BLOCKCHAIN
BLOCKCHAIN
Bitcoin price teases $4,000 in another sign of a possible new bull run
The price of bitcoin rallied Monday to break the $4,000 mark at least temporarily, its highest level since briefly touching the same level in early January and before that in early December.
The latest price surge had cryptocurrency investors highly enthusiastic, particularly given that it occurred on Presidents Day, a U.S. public holiday where there was not a lot happening in terms of news.
Why the rally occurred is subject to speculation. The apparent turn in the price of bitcoin, possibly the end of a 13-month bear run, started Feb. 7 when bitcoin started to price up from a low of about $3,300. From Feb. 10 through Sunday, bitcoin had traded in a price band of about $3,550 to $3,650.
The new surge has some predicting that bitcoin may have experienced a proper “breakout” and heading to highs last experienced in 2017. Although there’s no specific reason for bitcoin’s latest price surge, there are some indicators of what may have played a role.
According to Bitcoinist, the trading volume on LocalBitcoins, a peer-to-peer bitcoin trading platform, has surged to a record high in the U.S. “For the week ending on February 16th, LocalBitcoins saw traders exchange more than $31.5 million, nearly four times the amount exchanged the previous week ($8.4 million),” the report claimed.
Predicting that a price of $6,000 for bitcoin is “nearly inevitable,” Bitcoin Exchange Guide bizarrely claimed that the latest price rally may be the result of bitcoin becoming more usable as a utility, even citing the ability to use it to pay for a pizza.
Their post is dated Feb. 18, 2019, not 2010. We did double-check.
Notably, the rally was not limited to bitcoin. All major cryptocurrencies were up on Presidents Day. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ethereum, rose almost 9 percent, to $147.42, its highest price since early January.
EOS had the largest price increase among major cryptocurrencies, up nearly 25 percent in trading for the day, followed by Bitcoin Cash, up 14 percent. Litecoin was up 7.5 percent while Ripple XRP was up almost 6 percent.
As of 9:15 p.m. EST, bitcoin was trading at $3,869.90, up 6 percent over the last 24 hours.
Image: Pexels
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